It's not about justice
by Upggrade
Summary: After Jacks death thirty years after the war, Shepard goes off the deep end. Gone is the wise cracking, devoted husband. The Butcher is back in full force, more violent than ever.
1. Chapter 1

Been binge reading Punisher Max lately, found myself inspired. Just a series of one-shots, not connected, not in any kind of order, simply brief glimpses into Shepards happily-ever-after. Don't expect updates. They may come but don't wait for them.

Shepards blood-soaked war on crime currently finds him on the Citadel. The Council is getting a lot of pressure from people who don't like reading about a new massacre over breakfast every morning so they pass that pressure on to C-Sec. In turn, C-Sec does nothing. They love him for wiping out entire gangs at a time, for taking down the targets they can't reach, for making sure they get to go home every night.

One day, they contact him to tell him of an ongoing hostage situation. He heads over and gets the details from the officer in charge.

A couple punk kids tried robbing a store. It went very, very sideways. One got left behind in the chase, the other three ducked into a nearby office and took hostages. They were demanding their friend be released and that they be given a shuttle.

Much to the cops' confusion, Shepard orders the kid be brought to the scene.

One of the punks is looking out the window and sees none other than Commander fucking Shepard standing in the middle of the street glaring up at them. They all promptly shit themselves.

They're arguing about what to do when they see him rear back and hurl something up at them. It crashes through the window of the adjacent room. After a full minute with no explosions, they investigate. One pukes, the others nearly joining him, when they discover their friends head on the floor.

They all march out with their hands up less than ten minutes after he arrived.


	2. Chapter 2

The massive Krogan warlord falls back against the wall and slumps down to the ground, his battered body too damaged to obey his command to get up. Shepard is on him in a second.

He drives his combat knife upwards, forcing it in under the Krogans head plate. The millennia old killing machine, fearless in the face of centuries of war, panics.

"No, please! Not that!"

Shepard kicks him in the teeth, knocking several out. Stomping down, Shepard forces his jaw open with bone crushing force, ripping it out of its socket. He then yanks his knife upwards, tearing the headplate clean off.

He doesn't give him time to scream, not that he could with a ruined mouth full of boot anyway, burying his blade deep in the now exposed brain.


	3. Chapter 3

The way Shepard fights would give any observer the impression that he's fueled by an unquenchable hatred and rage that would cow a volcano, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. He feels nothing for his enemies, not anger, hatred, pity, nothing. Except for _him._ Attacking Oriana to draw him out drove Shepard to unimaginable bloodlust.

The dread spectre stalks towards his target as the worm tries to crawl away. A round through each knee had ensured he didn't get far while Shepard carved a path through his men.

When he reaches him, the cripple rolls to his back and, knowing it's over, taunts him one last time. Rather than reply, Shepard kicks him over onto his stomach and slams a knife down into his back just next to his spine. The mans screams turn to gurgles as Shepard rips the blade downwards, shattering all his ribs. He repeats the process on the other side. By now his victim is long gone, but he isn't finished yet. He rolls him over and pulls him to a sitting position. Gripping his head tightly, Shepard pulls straight up with all his might. With a sickening, wet, tearing sound, Shepard rips his head right off, his whole spine coming with it.

He holds the macabre trophy in the air, staring into its eyes for a moment, before tossing it aside with disdain and walking away without giving the ruined corpse a second glance.


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard fucked up. He had been slaughtering his way through a sex slave ring, business as usual. As he made his way down the hall, he checked every room. They all held the same thing, a young girl, mostly Human with a few Asari, chained naked to a bed. When he looked into the fifth room, his heart stopped.

Rather than cowering like the others, she was looking right at him. The murderous look in her eye reminded him so strongly of Jack that he froze. No tattoos and a normal haircut but even still, Shepard was paralyzed for a moment.

He snapped out of it just quick enough to realize he was fucked, an overload hitting him in the back.

That had been eight hours ago. He woke up to find himself stripped and tied to a chair. The room was a blank concrete box with a simple light and one heavy door. A camera in the corner watches his every move.

Shortly after waking up, two Batarian goons come in. They take turns working him over for three hours. As a rule, Batarians are pretty fucking stupid, so they mostly just beat him. They could do that for weeks without getting a reaction out of him, which infuriates them.

As they catch their breath, they talk about who they should sell him to. The one missing an eye says they should shoot him, he's too dangerous to keep alive and half his bounty is still an insane sum.

 _He dies first, too smart for his own good._

After another few minutes, they resume their beating. Shepard notices something that gets the gears in his head turning. It seems the chair he's tied to is coming apart under the heavy blows raining down on him. As soon as it breaks, he's loose.

It takes another hour before it finally does. Shepard uses his adrenaline rush the second the chair snaps and rushes his assailants faster than they can register what just happened.

After the most violent thing a chair has ever been used for, Shepard grabs a rifle and gets to work. He kills his way through the basement under the whore house, stopping in the guards quarters to reclaim his equipment.

Eventually, the only room left is the ringleaders office. He kicks down the door and steps inside. Nirala, the Asari behind the whole operation, is inside, but she's not alone.

She's holding the girl from earlier as a shield, positioning her carefully to deny Shepard any kind of a shot.

"Back off asshole! I saw how you looked at this bitch, get the fuck out of my way right now or I'll take her pretty little head off!"

Not going to happen. He looks into the girls eyes and sees heavy sadness, but also determination. She gives him a slight nod, barely perceptible. He catches on just a second too late to tell her not to do it.

She jerks to the side, giving him a shot. He fires at the same time as Nirala. His round punches her directly between the eyes, hers hits the girl in the temple.

He looks down at her body, burning it into his memory while he sends a message to the local authorities. Once it's sent he kneels down, reverently lifts the girl into his arms and carries her away. He hands her over to the cops and walks away without a word.

He never learns her name.


	5. Chapter 5

His dreams should be haunted by that day, but they aren't.

He should relive that day every night.

That day when, after thirty six days of Miranda telling him she won't wake up, that she's gone, that her heart is only still beating because machines are forcing it to, he pulled the plug on her life support.

He killed her.

He killed the woman he loved and he doesn't have nightmares about it. It haunts his waking hours, the time not filled with cathartic violence is torturous but it's nothing compared to his dreams.

Every night he finds himself holding her hand as they walk through the carnival, smiling at each other over dinner, joining in on the banter between her and her students, losing himself in the taste of her lips.

Every night he visits heaven, and every night, he walks straight back out. Someday he'll stay, but he can't bring himself to speed it up, knowing she'd hate him for it. She may be waiting a while.

She never was very patient.


	6. Chapter 6

After the smoke clears and the wounded are dealt with Shepard is left standing over his target, surrounded by bodies, limbs and debris.

This Salarian knows where the shipments come from. Shepard will soon.

He asks once, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Where does it come from?"

The Salarian shuts his eyes tightly and mutters.

"I can't, the things they would do to me…"

Rather than say anything, Shepard grabs him by the head, his fist fitting around his face.

"P-please!"

He begins squeezing slowly. The frog starts squirming, batting uselessly at his arm. As his skull nears its limit, he gives in.

"Okay, okay, just let me go, please!"

Shepard drops him and stares expectantly. He gives up everything, where the shipments come from, who runs it, estimates about the amount of security. It's more than Shepard had expected to get.

"You, you have to get them all, you know? When they find out I talked, they'll-"

Shepard lowers his gun and walks away, wondering why they always think talking means they get to live.


	7. Chapter 7

[The Andromeda Initiative doesn't happen in my headcanon. Not because Andromeda was a bad game, but because, if technology is at a point where it takes 600 years to get to Andromeda, there's no point going yet. When Shepard comes back, the Council gives him the Tempest. Also, Legion didn't die on Rannoch and rejoined Shepard out of gratitude for choosing the Geth.]

Shepard comes to in his bed on the Tempest. Cora notices him stirring and stands from his couch. By now she knows better than to ask how he feels. She brings him up to speed. Despite the ambush, they'd managed to extract the target and get away with no casualties. She gives him the run down on his injuries. Mostly superficial, Lexi gave him a skin graft to correct the burns caused by the blast that had knocked him out. When she says 'skin graft' his eyes go wide.

Despite her protests, he tears the bandages off his chest and his heart sinks.

There had been a tattoo on his chest. A large letter J made of thorn covered vines. In the center was nestled an S. Every year on their anniversary Jack added another thorn. She would have gotten something similar, except she didn't have enough canvas left. She'd settled for tally marks next to the N7 on her ass.

As he looks down at the ugly patch of pink skin in its place, a crushing thought settles on him.

He'd cherished that tattoo dearly. It represented the fact that he alone had braved the thorns and found his way to the place she guarded most. And that if anyone wanted to get to him, it would take one hell of a fight.

 _And now it's gone. Another piece of her, just gone._

Not just gone, there was now a permanent reminder that it's gone.

Gradually, hurt turns to anger, turns to rage. He stands and makes for the door. Cora follows, knowing what's going on. She knows she can't stop him, so she tries to remind him that they need the guy. He responds without turning.

"I don't."

He walks into the storage room in the cargo bay they'd locked the guy in. He's tied in a stress position. Shepard tightens it further. The renewed pain makes him stir. He starts writhing and begging when he sees the apocalyptic look on Shepards face.

Despite just waking up after taking a grenade point blank, it doesn't take much effort to get a screwdriver behind the fuckers kneecap.


	8. Chapter 8

Calixus has always been praised for his ability to stay cool under pressure. It had kept him alive during the war all those years ago. It had served him very well in the private sector, and it's the reason he doesn't panic when Shepard obliterates one of his distribution centers.

The way Calixus sees it, Shepard probably caught a dealer and squeezed him. Being the worthless street trash that they are, said dealer would certainly have given up everything he knew. But that's okay. He knows none of his own men would ever talk. Shepard could have this one victory, because it would lead him nowhere.

Two days later, when they fish the next guy up the food chain out of a river, what's left of him anyway, Calixus starts to worry.

He's in his office inside his palatial estate when, out of the blue, several explosions rock the building. From the direction he guesses, correctly, that his skycars no longer exist.

As cool as ever, he makes his way to the panic room in his basement. As he listens to his security team coordinating, he finds it's an unsurprisingly desperate fight.

When the gunfire stops, Calixus doesn't allow himself to hope. He needs confirmation, but the power goes out before he can radio anyone.

Suddenly, he's not safe and sound in a bunker, he's locked in a cage.

He hits the manual release for the door and runs. At the end of the hallway he sees one of his guards on his knees with his hands on his head. A woman's voice calls out from the blackness.

"Turn back."

Then the mans head bursts. At this point, his nerve is failing. He sprints back the other way towards the secondary escape route. He's almost free when he slams face first into something hard and unforgiving.

Looking up he sees, nothing. Then, before his eyes, a Geth materializes out of thin air. It says nothing, its message clearer for it.

Calixus scrambles back to his feet and runs away, to the only place left, back into the panic room.

He's pacing for several minutes, terrified out of his mind, before it finally happens. Shepard walks in and smoothly puts a round through each of his knees.

When his pained screams subside, Shepard speaks with no inflection.

"Her name was Visela. She was your favorite. When you started using her, she was 37. For a Turian or Human, she would've been 12."

"Spirits. I'm, I'm sorry, I didn't know how old she was!"

"When she finally got the courage and opportunity, she ran. When you caught her, you pushed her off a bridge."

"I'm sorry!"

If Shepard hears his shout, he doesn't show it.

"She lingered for hours, every bone in her body, shattered."

"P-please…"

Shepard produces a black metal bottle from his belt and tosses it at Calixus' feet.

"Pour that over yourself."

"W-what is it?"

Shepards glare leaves no room for hesitation. With badly shaking hands, Calixus opens the bottle and starts pouring. He recoils when the fumes from the sticky liquid hit him. Once the bottle is empty he tosses it aside. He screws his eyes shut and asks in a whisper.

"What now?"

"Say her name."

"...Visela."

With that, Shepard ejects his white hot thermal clip onto Calixus' chest. He stares into the flames until the screaming stops, then walks away.


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn't a bad idea to hide their warehouse on a garden world so densely grown that you would never find the building without the coordinates.

Unfortunately for them, the bloody mess Shepard spaced a few days ago knew the coordinates.

He'd been waiting and observing for three days before he got an opportunity he couldn't pass up. A monsoon was raging over the warehouse, perfect cover.

He inserts via orbital drop five kilometers from the building and makes his way to it on foot. The whole walk, he can't stop wondering if this is what Pragia had been like the day she made her escape. He only succeeds in forcing his mind to shut up when he finally reaches the building.

The ferocious storm makes him all but invisible, as the perimeter guards find out too late, if at all.

It's a simple hit. He moves through the building robotically, showing the usual level of mercy. They had no idea he was coming, the element of surprise allows him to mop them up easily.

As he steps out of the building the incendiary charges ignite, engulfing everything inside.

Before he gets back to the tree line, he hears a gunshot and glass shattering. He looks back and sees a guard half dragging another out a window. A short burst puts them on the ground.

He walks over and kicks their weapons away before looking them over. The one that was wounded when he came out had been shot in the shoulder during the raid. The new round hit him in the thigh.

 _Femoral artery, bleed out in two minutes max._

The other guy is trying to crawl away. He's hit in the stomach. Shepard walks up, ignores his pleas and puts his boot on the back of the mans head. He presses his face down into the mud and holds it there until the squirming stops. Before lifting his foot, he looks over and sees that the first guy has gone still.

He walks back into the tree line, studiously forcing her face out of his head.


	10. Chapter 10

[Bit of a tone shift, not sure if it works.]

Shepard is in the comm room speaking to the Council about his latest assignments conclusion.

"That video I just sent you is his full confession. He laid out how the entire operation worked and he implicated two dozen other executives who were in on it. He gave up enough that C-Sec should have no trouble rounding all of them up."

The Asari nods and gives him a skillfully masked fake smile.

"Excellent news Commander, how soon can you turn him in?"

"I'm spacing him the second we're done."

Their eyes all go wide, the Salarian speaks first.

"Commander, this case is going to bring down the largest corporation in the galaxy, he must face justice in a court of law!"

"His confession was a death sentence, might as well just do it now."

The Human speaks up, always eager to show that Humans aren't all violent brutes like him.

" _No_. We indulge your, tendencies, far too much as it is. Someone this high profile must be dealt with appropriately."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do."

The Asari cuts in before things get out of hand.

"Commander please. We'll need his testimony to make any of this stick to the others. You can kill him now or you can let us use him to take down dozens."

"Let him worm his way out, you mean?"

"No. If this video is what you say, I give you my word he will be convicted."

She'd known Shepard long enough to know better than to use the phrase "brought to justice". The Salarian pipes up again.

"Think about it for a moment. How many of the others can you kill before the rest disappear? We can take them all in at once."

He gives them a hard stare for a moment before growling between his teeth.

"Fine. But if I hear that he lawyered his way out of it, I'll gut him _that day_."

"We understand Commander."

The Turian speaks for the first time since Shepard called.

"If I may Commander, how did you get him to give all this up?"

"I took his hand off."

At their collective blanch, he raises an eyebrow.

"What's with the look, I didn't even tell you about his eye yet."


	11. Chapter 11

They thought it was an ambush. They were right, just in the wrong direction.

Three street punks had lured him down an alley by dragging a passerby in, making it look like a gang rape. It was no secret that he had something of a soft spot for young girls being abused, so her screams drew him in just like they wanted.

As he walked down the maze-like alleys, he clocked the two additional walking corpses who were hiding, planning to sneak up behind him. He walked by without alerting them that he was on to them.

 _Better to let them spring their trap, get them all at once. If the others hear me kill these two dipshits, they might bolt._

When he rounds a corner and finally finds them, it's about what he expected to find. The girl is laying on the ground sobbing, the trash nowhere to be seen.

He steps towards her, not to help, but to get the scumbags to come out of their hiding spots.

It starts with one of the followers, a small Asari, jumping on his back. She wraps her arms around his throat and squeezes, putting her legs around him to hold on.

He ignores her and lashes out at the others. The way he dealt with situations where he was outnumbered in hand to hand was to get aggressive, even more than his usual. Throw a punch at one, spin into a kick at the one behind, carry the spin into a backhand at another. Never focus on one, allowing the others to gang up on him. Keep them unsure of who he'll target next. While they're off balance, he can take them apart.

In short order two are dead and the other two are dazed, time to get rid of this pathetic bitch on his back. He walks over to the wall and turns his back to it. He slams himself backwards with every ounce of strength he can muster. The impact actually dents the wall. The Asari lets out a wheeze and drops to the ground, curling up in the fetal position, cradling her utterly shattered rib cage.

He looks at the human girl, now backed up against a wall with her knees hugged to her chest. She's looking at him with fear filled eyes.

"Don't look."

She closes her eyes tightly and presses her forehead to her knees. Three distinct cracks ring out. She doesn't dare open her eyes, not even after he tells her that it's over. After a moment, she's enveloped in two iron arms and being carried back towards the street.

When they get there, he sets her down, or tries to. She presses her face into his chest and wraps her arms around him, squeezing as hard as she can.

While she sobs uncontrollably, he reaches around her back and taps out a message to the police on his omni-tool. Once it's sent he stands still, letting her take what she needs.

By the time the Nos Astra PD arrives, she's quieted down. He leaves her with the officers and walks away. He turns when she calls out to him.

"T-thank you."

 _But I'm the one who got you into this._


	12. Chapter 12

Shepard has seen and done the worst the galaxy can offer without batting an eye, but when a lead on a corrupt pharmaceutical company leads him to a lab full of child test subjects, it hits too close to home.

The only scientist still alive, the head researcher, begs for his life but all Shepard hears is the whimpering coming from the cells lining the wall.

He grabs the 'man' by the collar and hurls him across a table, shattering a few hundred thousand credits worth of equipment. He keeps pleading but only two words go through Shepards mind, over and over.

 _Subject Zero_

He picks up a piece of glass and snaps it into a few smaller pieces. He grabs the object of his wrath by the jaw and forces the glass into his mouth. Holding him steady with one hand he pulls the other back and punches him across the mouth with bone crushing force.

He drives his fist down again and again, long after the screaming stops. When he finally stops, he walks over to the cells. With blood still dripping from his face and hands he surveys the children.

 _The littlest ones may recover, depends how much they remember. But the older ones, the ones who will remember, how long will it be before I see you again? How many of you will become just like her, until I have to deal with you?_

 _Too many._


	13. Chapter 13

Illiums four most powerful crime bosses are in a conference room arguing about what to do about Shepard. They've been at it for two hours and they've only come up with "kill him" and "work around him". No one knows how to do either.

Shepard wanted very much to be in that room but the security in that building was actually remarkable. There was only one gap for him to exploit. Humans were the only space faring species with hair, meaning that a few weeks without shaving would fool most aliens.

No one recognized the new janitor. They checked him for weapons everyday, but they didn't check for yards of explosive micro-filaments wrapped around his arm.

Shepard has been waiting and listening to the bug that he placed on the window when he cleaned it last week. He'd wanted to hear their plans, maybe learn what hitmen they thought could take him, when someone suggests they take a break.

Rather than risk anyone leaving, Shepard hits the button. The first charge detonates, cutting a large circle in the floor around the table. It and everyone sitting at it fall through to the next floor. The next charge goes off, dropping them down again. Eight blasts later they land in the sub-basement and they finally stop falling.

"Jesus Christ!"

"Fuck!"

"The fuck just happened?!"

"Where the hell are we?!"

He doesn't get an answer. Shepard steps forward and coolly executes the two bodyguards who fell in, then the bosses. He drops down into the sewer pipe he'd entered through and disappears long before anyone comes looking for him.


	14. Chapter 14

The camp is in ruins. Ten minutes ago they'd been gathered around the fire, laughing and drinking in celebration of their latest haul. The plan had been to lay low for a month, then head back to civilization to fence the loot. Now, the plan is simply to get away from that fucking Spectre. Tark doesn't know it, but he's the last one left. He's running down the hill, desperate to make the treeline and disappear into the brush.

Shepard spots him and takes aim with his Graal Spike Thrower. He'd brought it because this planet was home to wildlife that gunfire merely annoys. He fires just as his target vanishes from view. He doesn't see if he hit or not but the screams give him a pretty good idea.

He walks down and finds the Batarian on his stomach. His shot had caught him in the calf, the spikes had pulverized his leg and nailed the shredded limb to the ground. He walks up from behind and stomps down on the spikes, forcing them all the way down and severing the leg. The man screams and begs for mercy, rather than respond Shepard kicks him in the teeth, sending many of the needle-like things down his throat.

He rolls onto his back and clutches his throat, making a sound that's half wheeze, half gurgle. Shepard presses the Graals muzzle between his eyes and silences him.


	15. Chapter 15

Shepard is sitting at his desk plotting his next mission. He doesn't like this job, quietly extracting a compromised spy from an unstable, failed republic isn't his usual fare but Liara had provided him mountains of intel that he never would have been able to gather himself. On the rare occasions that she came to him, he helped her without hesitation.

He takes a sip of scotch and sets the empty glass down. He looks over at the 231 year old bottle, a gift from a different lifetime, and frowns. Less than a quarter remains. It's the last bottle she'd gotten him, once it's gone, it's one less piece of her left in his life. He can't bring himself to stop drinking it however, they'd always had a glass from that same batch on their anniversary and he was determined to keep as many of their little traditions alive as he could.

He doesn't want to think about what he'll do when it runs out.


	16. Chapter 16

[Never planned on including the first half of this but the second half needed the setup.]

2186

"Mordin, you're not going up there."

The Salarian in question stops walking and the gears in his head go into overtime.

"Not concerned for my safety, something else. Ah."

The disappointment in his voice is unmistakable. He turns around and doesn't even glance at the gun in Shepards hand.

"That desperate for Salarian aid, or that afraid of Krogan?"

"Both. You know what the Krogan were like, we won't be able to fight them off, not after this war."

"Krogan deserve chance to change! Clan Urdnot already working to break out of cycle of violence."

"It won't work, too many will want revenge. You've said it yourself, the genophage is the right call."

"I MADE A MISTAKE! Too focused on big picture, forgot big picture made of little pictures. Too many variables. Rushed into uplifting Krogan, rushed into genophage. Must do what I can to correct."

"Mordin-"

"Will not allow Krogan to perish out of fear, do what you must."

With that, Mordin turns and walks toward the elevator. Shepard keeps his gun trained on his back and for the first time in his life, he hesitates.

Knowingly leaving Kaidan to die had been hard enough, but to actually pull the trigger himself?

 _Can I? Should I?_

 _Yes, I should. This is so much bigger than us, I can't let my feelings get in the way. I swore I would never let emotions rule again, that's how Torfan happened. Never again._

 _So do it._

The feather light trigger in his Carnifex feels utterly immovable. He watches Mordin walk toward the elevator, trying to fire, trying to kill his friend, but his finger resists with all its might.

As the elevator door opens, a round punches through Mordins chest. While the mortally wounded doctor continues his trek in vain, Shepard stomps out, clenching his fists hard enough to hurt.

* * *

Wrex and Shepard stay behind at Eves funeral pyre while all the other Krogan disperse.

Shepard breaks the silence.

"So did Mordin tell you how this cure is going to work?"

Wrex, who hadn't trusted Shepard since discovering he deleted Maelons data, narrows his eyes.

"What are you getting at Shepard?"

"It's not instant. You all still have the genophage. A few babies conceived after today will be clean. More of theirs will be. He said it should be completely bred out in five generations."

Wrex lowers his voice dangerously and flares his nostrils.

"That wasn't the deal."

"That was the only way to do it. He said there was no way to remove the genophage from someone who already has it, that's how it was designed."

"Then why didn't he tell me this?"

"Because he knew you'd never go for it. So he just did it without telling you."

Wrex stares hard at him for several long moments before letting out a sigh.

"A damn Salarian had a bigger quad than most Krogan. We'll keep our end of the deal, I can have boots on Palaven inside a week."

"Good, see you on the other side Wrex."

Shepard turns and leaves, desperate to get off this fucking planet.

* * *

2277

The post war fuckathon had naturally caused a population boom in every race, even the still-plagued Krogan. This was enough to convince them that the cure had been for real. Krogan civilization was revitalized. Wrexs efforts to turn the Krogan around started to really gain traction. They were making a lot of progress towards rejoining the galaxy as equals.

About forty years after the war, when the first generation born after the cure produced the usual pathetic birth rate, a lot of red flags went up. When that generations children were still suffering the effects of the genophage, the Krogan knew they'd been duped.

All hell breaks loose. The war hawks who'd opposed Wrex use this as proof that he was a weak leader, that he'd doomed them. He's killed in the ensuing upheaval. Grunt fights like hell alongside him, but he falls as well. Urdnot is wiped from the face of Tuchanka. Practically overnight, all the progress the Krogan had made is burned to the ground as chaos consumes the planet.

This betrayal is a devastating hit to the goodwill that Humanity had earned during the war and reconstruction. Desperate to get ahead of the PR disaster, the Alliance demands that Shepard turn himself in to answer for it. The brass needs to publicly hang him to show the world that they don't condone what he did.

Shepard has been down this road before and it had nearly cost him the only thing he cared about so this time, he refuses. He leaves the Tempest, docked on Illium at the time the news breaks, and runs.

He doesn't just disappear however. He knows that they'll never stop chasing him and that the manhunt will hurt his former friends. They'd drifted apart, of those still alive he only spoke to Miranda and Liara anymore, and Liara was just for business, but he still doesn't want this to blow back on them.

He's tracked down on a small human colony that had been so devastated by the Reapers that it had been abandoned.

A company of N7s, under a Captain Santilly, is sent to bring him in.

Recon doesn't show anything, they have to go in blind and find him. They know it's a trap but they don't have a choice.

One six man squad is clearing the main power station. The facility is pitch black. Engineers are working to get it back online but for the time being, the squad proceeds by flashlight.

When the engineers succeed, the squad instantly wishes they hadn't. Shepard had filled the light fixtures with jellied fuel. The second the power comes back on, the entire place becomes an inferno.

 _Eight down._

They pull back when night settles. With no idea where he is or what else he has cooked up, the night is too dangerous.

The next day, several squads fan out to begin going door to door. One by one, they go dark. Each time, the squad that investigates their last known position finds the same thing. Corpses mangled beyond recognition and not a single clue where Shepard came from, how he did it, or where he went.

 _Thirty two down._

By the third day, morale is beyond terrible. These are the hardest killing machines humanity can produce, but even they don't want to go back into that town. Santilly decides it's time to lead by example. After all, Shepard is only one man. Sure, he's an N7, but so are the dozens that are after him.

Santilly groups everyone together into one massive patrol, leaving no stragglers for Shepard to keep picking off. They pay close attention to those men in the back, knowing that's probably where he'll come from.

When several smoke bombs drop on their heads seemingly from thin air, no one panics. But one man does disappear. When the smoke clears and the head count comes up short, the choice is clear. They are _not_ leaving one of their own with that maniac.

They track the mans omni-tool to an old factory on the outskirts of town. The place is a maze, a perfect hunting ground. After combing the place for three hours, they suddenly pick up the signal again on the other side of town. Realizing it's a wild goose chase they leave the factory. They come away empty handed, but Shepard doesn't. He walks out with another friend. He'll join the first in the river, but his omni-tool will come in handy.

After eight hours of disappearances and fruitless rescues, the company is stretched thin all across the town. Santilly has set up an HQ in the police station. When the shooting starts downstairs, he mentally congratulates Shepard for skillfully drawing him out and isolating him.

Predictably, the door explodes inwards, sending the room into chaos. The last thing Santilly sees is a bright orange blur coming straight at his throat.

When Santilly misses his regular check in, the brass gets very nervous. They immediately try to contact him but get no response. Desperate to find out what the hell is going on but unwilling to throw more men into the meat grinder totally blind, they patch into the captains helmet cam.

To their horror, his helmet is sitting on a table, staring at his head, also sitting on the table.

 _Fifty four down._

After Santillys demise, the brass decide to err on the side of caution. Two more companies are sent to back up what's left of the original.

Shepard keeps fighting, keeps killing them in droves, but there are just too many of them and each of his tricks only works once. They start taking ground, penning him in to a smaller and smaller area.

On the fifth day a badly wounded Shepard rounds the corner, Alliance troops hot on his tail. He reaches the end of the corridor and tries the door. No power, they'd finally cornered him.

 _Go back. They think I'm fleeing, they won't expect me right in their faces. Shock and awe through them, fall back to the power substation._

He turns and goes back the way he came. The betrayer, his wounded leg, slows him down. The pursuing N7s round the corner while he's still twenty feet away. The two sides look at each other for a heartbeat, both coming to the same conclusion.

After seeing _seventy two_ of their friends and brothers not only killed, but butchered, at his hand, none of them wants to take him alive.

He takes a step forward, omni-blade bursting to life, and they open fire. He walks forward into the withering hail of gunfire. He's riddled with bullet holes but he flatly refuses to be stopped.

When they stop firing, he's been shot thirty times. He takes one more defiant step, one more and he'd be in range, before his treasonous body gives out. He drops to a knee, mentally screaming at himself to get up. He forces his body to obey through sheer force of will. To the N7s collective shock, he stands. They fire again and he collapses to the floor.

Hesitantly, they roll him over to make sure he's dead. They don't believe it when his arm shoots out and seizes the medic by the throat. Two more rounds to the heart and he finally, _finally,_ can disappear with her for good.

[Note, this is not necessarily the end of this story. These chapters aren't in order, this is just the latest I've come up with, there may or may not be more after this.]


	17. Chapter 17

_Things haven't gone this badly in a while._

He has just enough time to finish that thought before the Batarian slams into him, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into the wall.

The dilapidated wall gives out when 700 pounds of killers smash into it. The squint continues his charge through the wall and body slams Shepard down onto his back in the middle of the next room.

He tries to strangle the spectre but a thumb driven into one eye causes him to stand and stumble backwards.

Shepard scrambles to his feet. He's been beating this walking rock for half an hour to little effect so he does something drastic.

 _Shouldn't use these so close, especially indoors. Fuck it._

He grabs an inferno grenade from his belt and throws it down between his attackers feet. The blast engulfs him and is close enough to singe Shepards eyebrows.

He'd underestimated how run down the building is. The floor gives a loud crack before giving out.

Shepard and the flaming future corpse fall through to the next floor. When the debris and bodies hit it, that one gives out as well.

When they stop, Shepard, barely conscious, looks over and sees the smoldering body impaled on a two by four.

Every inch of his body is begging for mercy but Shepard doesn't care. He moves to get up but only manages to roll to his side before all the breath leaves his lungs in a gasp. Then he hears it. Footsteps. When it rains it pours, the squints partner survived and is almost on top of him.

 _Didn't check the kill dumbass._

He draws his Carnifex but the two ton block of steel falls from his numb fingers. He can't even lift it, let alone roll over and aim the thing. While struggling to pick it up, all he manages to do is switch it to armor piercing.

The other Batarian comes into the room and sees his brother dead on the floor. He has just enough time to become enraged before a gunshot rings out.

The round bursts from Shepards side and finds a loving home in the Batarians forehead. When he hears the body hit the floor Shepard rolls to his back. He closes his eyes and allows himself two deep breaths before demanding that his body get up.

 _Move god damn it. Pass out on the ship, not here. Here is death._

His legs dutifully, if reluctantly, get under him. Next thing he knows, he's falling face first into the Tempests airlock.


	18. Chapter 18

[I don't like this chapter, not happy with it.]

As Shepard gets ready to put the prisoner to the question, Cora stops him.

"Wait. This guy is just a software engineer, if you start cutting pieces off he'll lock up and we won't get anything."

"Locks can be broken."

"Please, he didn't know what he was getting into, he doesn't need to suffer."

"I already gave him a chance to do this the easy way, he didn't take it."

"Because you scared the shit out of him! Let me talk to him, I can get him to open up."

"How?"

"We stick to the classics, good cop/above the law psychopath."

He thinks for a moment before growling out between his teeth.

"Five minutes."

She walks in and gently removes the mans blindfold. He blinks several times in surprise.

"Y-you're not Shepard. What's going on?"

"I work for him. We need to know everything you can tell us about your employers."

"I, I can't. They would hurt me so bad if I talked. And don't promise you can protect me! I know what Shepard is like, he's gonna kill me either way so why should I help you?"

She sighs and looks down.

"You're right, he is going to kill you either way. But it doesn't have to hurt. If you talk, he'll kill you with a gun. If not, he'll do it with a blow torch."

He chews his cheek and looks down. After fidgeting for a few moments, he sighs.

"Fine. Just, promise me that it won't hurt."

"I promise."

As Cora seals the stasis pod she'd loaded the body into, determined to make sure he gets a proper burial, Shepard speaks from behind her. He'd done that enough times that, while she still never heard him when he didn't want her to, she at least doesn't jump anymore.

"You let him off too easy."

"We just killed a man for a crime he didn't know he committed, that's pretty harsh to most sane people."

"His crime got twenty people killed whether he knew it or not."

She knows he won't back down, not that it would do any good now anyway, so rather than continuing to beat her head against a wall she walks away, disappointed but not surprised.


	19. Chapter 19

Four armored vehicles are steadily making their way up the mountain towards one of Shepards hideouts, high in the snow capped peaks. A ferocious blizzard is slowing their progress but the skilled mercenaries inside the APCs are glad to have some cover for their approach.

The Shadow Broker had lived up to his reputation and managed to provide very detailed instructions on how to reach the secluded safe house. They're following the trail through a dense forest when suddenly a massive explosion erupts under the lead vehicle, pitching the nose high into the air before the flaming wreckage comes slamming back down.

Their radio frequency comes to life in his ear.

"Fuck, mine!"

"Back up, back up!"

Before they manage that, a rocket screams in from the trees and hits the engine compartment of the trailing vehicle. With wreckage blocking them in front and behind, the mercs are trapped.

"We're in the killzone, get out and return fire!"

"Where the hell did that come from?!"

"Just set up a perimeter, were sitting ducks here!"

The first man that steps out takes a massive round to the side of the head, taking off everything above his jaw, before both feet even hit the snow.

The others pour out but the blizzard has reduced visibility to nothing. They blindly fire everything they've got in the direction the shot came from. Two more men are decapitated before they retreat to the other side of the APCs.

As soon as they reach safety, a torrent of rounds streaks in from behind, stitching a messy line across the men huddled behind the second vehicle in line.

The three remaining survivors panic. One drops his rifle and steps out with his hands up. Another devastating slug flies in from god only knows where, drilling him squarely between the eyes. The other two run for it.

One is cut to ribbons by a burst of machine gun fire. The other makes it to the tree line and trudges on with no idea where he's going.

Shepard knows exactly where he's going. The last merc is bumbling towards a giant frozen lake. He follows the man for two hours, watching him slow down and stumble from the bitter cold ripping at him.

When he gets far enough out onto the lake, Legion puts a round in the ice between his feet. He freezes as a spider web of cracks spreads out around him. The second he gingerly lifts one foot, the ice shatters.


	20. Chapter 20

"Shepard-Commander, we have made an observation about your behavior that we do not understand."

"What is it?"

"You execute criminals without mercy regardless of the severity of their crimes. Shepard-Jack committed worse crimes than many of those you've killed, yet you over looked them."

Shepard mulls it over for a moment. He knew he took a hypocritical stance on Jacks crimes but no one had ever been brave enough to actually mention it to him.

"Before I broke her out of prison, I really didn't want her. I only picked her up because the most powerful human biotic in the galaxy sounded pretty useful. I got to know her to make sure she would work together with the rest of the squad. I never expected to like her. But I did. So, I rationalized her crimes away. I really fucking hate the idea of the 'victim of circumstance' but she truly never had a chance to be anything other than what she was. And as soon as she got a chance to be better, what did she do? She became a teacher and helped thousands of kids. Should I have ignored her crimes? Probably not, but I don't regret it for a second."

He didn't mean to say that much. He'd never explained all that to anyone other than her but the lamp is easy to talk to. They're so innocent, so genuinely curious about things they really just don't understand that he doesn't mind explaining personal things to them.

"Is it not possible that others could have this potential for improvement as well?"

"Sure it is, but I don't have a reason to give them a chance. I only did with Jack because she was useful."

"If confronted with her now, without your personal connection, would you still give her a chance?"

"I'd shoot her without a second thought."

Legion waits for an uncharacteristically long pause.

"Most would not describe this as justice."

"And?"


	21. Chapter 21

After a late night rolling gunfight down two blocks in Illiums industrial district, Shepard has chased his target and his last two goons into a factory.

They get the brilliant idea to stop running and start hunting him back since they have him out numbered.

They turn on as many machines as they can so he can't track them by sound. After a few minutes the boss, circling around the outer wall, looks up at the hooks hanging from chains moving along a rail on the ceiling. He nearly drops his gun when one of his guys emerges from the shadows, a hook through his chest.

Leaving the corpse to keep making its laps, he heads for the exit. As he goes, he finds the other guy, or part of him. A leg is sticking out the side of a compactor while a large puddle spreads beneath it.

He breaks into a sprint for the door but a heavy chain swings out from around a corner and slams into his chest, knocking him to the ground. Before he can recover his breath a hand is around his throat, dragging him towards a hydraulic press.

Shepard pushes him onto the table and lowers the ram down onto his chest, applying enough pressure to make breathing difficult.

"Who did you sell them to?"

"Fuck you!"

He increases the pressure. When ribs begin to creak, the slimeballs resolve fails him.

"O-okay, fuck, you made your point!"

Shepard backs the ram up just enough so he can talk.

"I sold them to some squints on Omega. I swear to god I don't know their names! They were real secretive, you've got everybody scared shitless."

He mulls it over for a second, trying to decide if the scumbag was just telling him what he wanted to hear or the truth. It adds up, Omegas black markets are an easy place to sell stolen organs and it makes sense that they would remain nameless.

"Fair enough."

"Alright, now let me out of this fucking thing."

He sets the pressure to increase as slowly as the machine can go and walks away, ignoring the pleas and the screams.


	22. Chapter 22

It wasn't often that organized crime kingpins get sent to prison. It was unheard of for them to turn themselves in. It was bizarre for one to demand life without parole in the most secure prison in the galaxy. But that is exactly what Seric does the second he finds out Shepard is after him.

This annoys Shepard intensely. He could use his spectre status and just walk right into gen pop but this council is far less accommodating then the last was. If he did that, it might be the last straw.

Loathe to let someone break his perfect record, he hatches a plan. Liara fabricates an identity and pulls some strings to get him locked up without a trial.

All the prisoners and guards recognize him, but no one says a word. The guards knew he would only be there for one reason, and they're more than happy to let it happen.

He wants very much to just rip and tear his way through to Seric but he figures that while he's here, he might as well make it count.

When six guys jump him in the shower, he bludgeons them to death with a shower head.

When four jump him in the yard, the guards in the towers smirk as he feeds them to the electric fence.

When he gets shanked in the mess hall, he uses his adrenaline rush to grab his attackers wrist before he can slip back into the crowd. He calmly plucks the shank out of his side and kills the man. He then proceeds to kill the eight standing closest to him. The others flee to the farthest corners of the room like roaches before a light. The guards, deciding that executions are less entertaining then fights, finally go in and ask Shepard to stop. He obliges, knowing that the guards cooperation is key.

After the death toll breaks thirty, Seric decides it's time to go. He accelerates his escape plan after Shepard makes eye contact with him through the window in his cell door as he walks, completely unescorted, back to his own cell.

In his haste to get away from the unchained predator, Seric slips up. The wrong person sees the wrong thing. This weasel goes straight to the guards. In exchange for a cell in solitary, an odd request in any other situation, he tells them all about Serics plan.

The warden hears about this and has an idea. He felt he owed Shepard an unpayable debt. Thirty years back, his son was kidnapped by people who wanted someone released from the prison. Shepard swooped in and disemboweled them, saving the boy. As a result, the warden was all too happy to give Shepard a hand.

On the night of the escape, Seric makes his way down the maintenance corridor that he'd bribed his way into. Rather than finding his trusted second in command, he finds only a twisted, mangled corpse. He turns and runs back the way he came, shrieking for the guards.

The gate at the end of the hall slams shut and three guards line up on the other side to watch the show.

Seric turns back and isn't surprised to see Shepard walking toward him. He falls to his knees and begs. Offers an astronomical amount of money, swears to change his ways, to right the wrongs he's committed.

Shepard puts his hand on the cowards forehead and pushes his head back. He shoves his other hand into his mouth. The teeth are sharp but they don't matter. He strains for a moment before he succeeds in ripping his jaw off. He stabs it into the mans throat and rips it wide open.

After this latest kill, a guard gets sloppy and the media catches wind of their secret betting pool. After the story goes wide, the warden is forced to release Shepard.

He leaves, regretting the number of survivors he left behind.

[Didn't mean to dump six chapters all at once but the site wouldn't let me upload them for a couple days so they piled up.]


	23. Chapter 23

He crawls towards the car, ignoring the screams from his men behind him. The bullet in his gut hurts like hell but if he can just get away from that maniac it should be alright.

After crawling for what feels like miles, he reaches the car. He struggles to open the hatch from his position on the ground. With freedom and safety so close, he doesn't notice when the gunfire stops.

The door mercifully swings open and he reaches inside to haul himself into the seat. As he tries to grasp a handhold, the door slams down, crushing his hand.

He lets out a shrill scream and the door lifts up again. Shepard pushes him farther in and slams the door down again, this time shattering his forearm.

Tears start running down the lowlifes face as he begs for mercy, which doesn't come. It's his upper arm next. Shepard coldly repeats the entire agonizing process on his other arm.

Abruptly he drops the man and walks away. The cripple cradles his ruined arms against his chest and struggles to breath. Hoping against logic that Shepard is letting him live, he cranes his neck to see where he'd gone.

He didn't go far. The scumbag spots him just as he brings his boot down on the head of one of his guys that had managed to survive the onslaught.

The begging starts again, even more desperate, as Shepard walks back. When he gets there, he flips the man around and resumes using the car door to demolish his limbs.

Normally, he would have killed him and left by now but peddling drugs to high schoolers warranted a little one on one time.

By the time both his legs have been reduced to gravel the man is barely conscious. He's awake enough to realize what's coming, however, when Shepard lines his head up in the door.

The first hit leaves him twitching uncontrollably. The second puts an end to that. The third elicits the crunch Shepard is looking for.


	24. Chapter 24

Shepard fights more ferociously than usual, if he doesn't get through these goons fast enough, the girl will slip through his fingers and he won't find her again.

When the last body falls, he takes off deeper into the facility. He's in such a hurry that he doesn't notice the smell. The gas works quickly, bringing him down to the floor, coughing uncontrollably.

When he can barely move a muscle, his target walks into view wearing a gas mask. The man squats down and looks into Shepards eyes as he passes out.

When he comes to, he finds his right hand pinned to a large steel beam. He recognizes the wire wrapped around his wrist a dozen times. Mono-molecular restraints favored by slavers. The harder he tries to break out, the deeper it will slice into him.

A whimper draws his attention to his front. The girl is on her knees sobbing with the scumbag standing behind her.

"So much trouble just to save one girl. Who is this bitch to you, huh? I hope she's important to you, because you're about to watch her die."

When he reaches for the knife sitting on the table near him, Shepard jumps to his last resort.

He activates the one-use omni-blade implant in his left forearm. The blade bursts through his gauntlet and he slams it into his right arm without hesitation.

It bites through armor, skin and muscle easily, but to Lawsons credit, it stalls when it meets his heavy bone weave. He manages to force it through the rest of the way but the bones had taken their toll, the blade burns out as soon as it clears his arm. He surges to his feet and lunges forward.

Too late, by the time he's loose the girls throat is wide open. The man tries fighting back but compared to the full force of Shepards rage his strikes are those of a child. Shepard bears him to the floor and brings his fists down over and over again. In his hatred he forgets that he no longer has a right fist. The gagged ends of his forearm bones slash the mans face every time Shepard strikes.

He stops only when he realizes he's just punching bones, the brains beneath are long gone.

He stands and stumbles towards the girl but the blood loss catches up to him. He falls to the ground just as Legion finally finds him.

* * *

He comes to in his bed on the Tempest. When he starts to stir, Lexi steps over and scowls down at him.

"I knew you were reckless but really Commander? Your whole hand? You would have died if Legion had been one minute slower!"

He looks down and is surprised to see his hand right where it should be.

"Yes, I managed to reattach it. But don't think for one second that stunts like this are okay. You nearly killed yourself."

He tries to sit up but his body doesn't obey. He then tries to lift his arm, which also refuses.

"Why can't I move?"

She gestures to an IV next to the bed.

"I'm keeping you chemically restrained so you have no choice but to recover. I would've used shackles but clearly you don't mind hurting yourself to get out of them.

She checks his vitals and fills him in on what happened after he blacked out before leaving.

Shepard looks over at the IV and hatches a plan. He starts clenching every muscle in his body before relaxing and doing it again. The harder he works his muscles, the faster his body will process the sedatives. The machine will pump more in as its grip loosens. The more it pumps in, the sooner it will run out.

Lexi is intensely annoyed but entirely unsurprised to see Shepard up and working twelve hours before he should be.


	25. Chapter 25

One minute, they were sitting at their terminals, dutifully sifting the bosses money through dozens of shell companies and dummy accounts. The next, they were blind, deaf and being roughly manhandled.

When the flash bangs effects wear off, the two men are on their stomachs, hands cuffed behind their backs. Shepard is standing directly over one with one foot on either side and gets straight to the point.

"How do I find your boss?"

"I'm not telling you shit!"

Shepard squats down over the mans back, grabs a fistful of hair and cranes the mans head back painfully. He presses a knife to his forehead and slowly drags it back over his scalp, eliciting blood curdling screams from one, and abject terror from the other.

Leaving the brave one to writhe, Shepard moves to the other. Before he can say a word, the first man manages to fight through the agony enough to yell at his friend.

"Don't tell him...a fucking thing! We're...dead either...way."

A gunshot proves him right. The remaining bean counter spills his guts almost faster than his mouth can keep up with.


	26. Chapter 26

A broken clock is right twice a day. Which is how Shepard finds himself coming to his senses flat on his back after catching a well placed shotgun blast.

The lucky punk watches horrified as the man sits up, revealing that the blast had blown the skin off of a large patch of his skull. As he looks at the dull steel sheen of the Butchers heavy bone weave, he starts shaking uncontrollably. He drops his gun and tries to back away, only to trip over one of his dead buddies and fall.

"What, wh-what are you?!"

Shepard stands and silently stares down at him. He knows that this man has a wife and children who love and depend on him. He knows that they'll struggle to make it without him. He knows that after this, he'll almost certainly never go back to crime.

A boot and a crunch end the mans terrified screams. As he walks away, Shepard doesn't ponder his victims question, but one of his own.

 _Why did I hesitate?_


	27. Chapter 27

Sig makes his way to one of the perimeter towers to have a smoke with Bill and get away from the boss for a bit. He curses the bitter cold ripping into him as he walks, the facility is hidden in the mountain range ringing the planets south pole, a place with an average temperature of forty below. It sucks working out here but he concedes that manufacturing biological weapons is something best done away from the locals. It helps that the boss gives them complete freedom to do as they please when they make a trip into the nearest village.

He finally reaches the tower and sighs with relief upon climbing into the heated lookout. Bill nods and passes him a pack of cigarettes. Sig removes his helmet to light up, not really blaming Bill for keeping his on. The tower may be heated, but only enough to keep its occupants alive. After a few minutes, Sig strikes up a conversation.

"Man, you should've heard that chick I had last time I went into town. Would not stop screaming the whole time. Usually they just give up and cry after a while but not this one. Just went on and on and on."

"Heh, you didn't beat her bad enough then. Gotta shut em up first."

"Yeah, won't make that mistake again, my damn ears are practically still ringing."

"Hey, you've got the code to get into the secure labs, right?"

"Yeah...why?"

His answer comes at 3000 feet per second, right through his eye. Shepard scans his omni-tool for the access code before dropping out of the tower and heading into the facility. Clearing the entire place would take way too long, people would escape and data would be backed up. But if someone was to release every one of their products into the ventilation system at once, it would be over before anyone knew what hit them.

While the gas spreads, he goes back outside to mop up the other towers. Once they're taken care of he heads back inside again to wipe the hard drives. As he observes the results of combining hemorrhagic fever, flesh eating bacteria, paralytic nerve toxin and a half dozen other proprietary super plagues, he makes a mental note to get some nerve gas of his own for rainy days.


End file.
